As is known in the art, there are a variety of devices, signal formats, and protocols that can provide wireless access to a network. For example, cell phones use an air interface to communicate with a base station, which is ultimately coupled to land lines and other networks. Wireless devices for accessing various networks are also increasing in popularity. Currently, there are many different types of wireless devices having assorted air interface technologies. However, each device is typically limited to a particular type of wireless interface and network.
Some attempts have been made to address air interface incompatibilities. For example, dual-mode cellular phones enable switching between two different frequency bands (e.g., cellular 850 and PCS 1900 MHz bands) when a user moves from a cell served by one band into another cell served by the other band. Such devices use one transceiver to measure the channel quality in terms of received signal strength for the frequency bands in accordance with the corresponding industry standard specifications. Thus, the ability to measure alternative channels is quite limited.
It would, therefore, be desirable to overcome the aforesaid and other disadvantages.